By putting all the ingredients in one saucepan, you can easily make these date balls that taste like pecan pie. For a tasty treat, roll each ball in confectioners’ sugar or crushed coconut.
| Prep Time: | 15 mins |
| Cook Time: | 10 mins |
| Additional Time: | 5 mins |
| Total Time: | 30 mins |
| Servings: | 24 |
| Yield: | 24 date balls |
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter
- 8 ounces dates, pitted and chopped
- ¾ cup white sugar
- 2 large egg yolks
- 1 cup crisp rice cereal
- 1 cup chopped pecans
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Stir butter, dates, sugar, and egg yolks together in a saucepan over medium heat; bring to a boil. Cook for 2 minutes, then remove from the heat.
- Stir in rice cereal, pecans, and vanilla. Let rest until cool enough to handle, 5 to 10 minutes. Roll cooled mixture into 24 small balls. Roll each ball in confectioners’ sugar.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 125 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 15 g |
| Cholesterol | 27 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 1 g |
| Protein | 1 g |
| Saturated Fat | 3 g |
| Sodium | 37 mg |
| Sugars | 13 g |
| Fat | 8 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
These were wonderful! I had most of a bag of dates my mom wanted and then decided too much sugar (altho no added). They were too expensive to throw out, so I decided try this. In less than 1 hour start to finish ( while also doing laundry) I had 30 amazing cookies and no baking! Since I was short a-few dates, I added 3 figs , otherwise ingredients the same as written. The funny thing is my mom had no issue with eating the dates rolled in powdered sugar!
I have been making these for years. These are great with dates but my favorite is to substitute dried apricots for the dates. I have had many requests for the recipe.
Have made this cookie for years. A favorite with myself and others. Easy to make and delicious to eat. I roll half the cookies in confectioners sugar and half in sweetened coconut.
Love this traditional Christmastime treat!!! My mom always made these growing up and I’d lost the recipe. Very happy to find it … Simple, easy, delicious!! I’ll be taking some to share with her on Christmas Eve.
These are great!! I used Medjool dates and the mixture cooked a little faster, since they didn’t have to break down so much. I rolled in nuts and others in confectioner sugar. Highly recommend!
They turned out beautiful
I made it per the recipe- guests really liked it! It takes a while to boilt in step 1.
Yummy! Used crushed rice Chex instead of rice crispiest. Definitely will be on my Christmas cookie list again next year.
My family always made these for the holidays, and instead of rolling in powdered sugar, they rolled them in coconut. When I was a teenager, I won a blue ribbon at the county fair with that recipe! Love these cookies!
I make these most Christmases. I have used dried apricots & they were good too. Work quickly is the only word of advice I have
I made these tonight and found that they were the easiest and fastest cookies I’ve ever made. Hubby nearly made themselves sick because he just couldn’t stop eating them. I decreased the sugar to 1/2 cup after first reading a few of the reviews and think I could have gotten away decreasing it a little bit more since the powdered sugar adds even momre sweetness to them but they weren’t overpoweringly sweet just rich tasting. I can hardly wait to try them with coconut in place of the powdered sugar. Note: Just be sure to cook your butter, sugar and egg yolk mixture on a med/low heat so you don’t burn the sugar. The mixture is to thick to have it boil and if you try you will surely burn your sugar ruining the whole thing. You just want to cook it long enough to make sure your sugar has completely melted so your cookie isn’t grainy and be sure to stir your mixture as it’s cooking nearly constantly. I will be adding these to my list of favorite cookies recipes.
Wow! this is tasty! I followed the recipe to a T. It has a nutty, similarity to pecan pie just not as rich. I couldn’t tell when it was boiling and I was afraid I would burn it or cook it to hard ball stage. it was very sticky and I wasn’t able to form into balls so I dropped spoonfuls into a Ziploc bag of powdered sugar. then I stuck them in the fridge. Since these are high fiber, be cautious how many you eat. I couldn’t stop eating them, they were so good!
These are my all time favorite holiday cookie
I made two versions – one with dates and walnuts and the other with apricots and pecans. I put the whole dried fruit along with coconut oil and sugar in my Blendtec and pulsed until it was the right consistency. After putting in the large pan, I added the egg yolks before turning on the heat. Boiled two minutes, pulled the pan off the heat and added the rice cereal (extra for more crunch) and the finely chopped nuts and stirred well. Let cool and then formed the balls and rolled in coconut I had also chopped finely in the blender. I didn’t really measure the ingredients just put it together. The apricot batch was more moist and easier to form into balls but both versions were delicious and easy.
These are fabulous! I made 1/2 batch and used 2/3 cup Rice Krispies. For the sugar, I used a mix of white, brown, and Splenda. They will be regulars on my Christmas cookie list! Yum!
Yum! Yum! So delicious! I made some rolled in powdered sugar & some in unsweetened coconut… both taste fantastic & to be honest I don’t prefer pecans, but LOVE these! I will definitely make them again ??
I had lost this recipe and searched until I found one that I thought was close to my original recipe. It was lost but now it is found! This little cookie is a keeper and one you will be sure to use years to come!
made as written! delicious!
I made these last holiday season for the many, many boxes of cookies I send to family and friends. So picture this: it’s almost 11:00pm, I’m getting cookie boxes together for my daughters to deliver the next day. Boxes are ready, and cookies of all kinds are lined up on the buffet. I go to the very first of the cookie selection: these date balls. I go to reach into the container, and my hand finds only powdered sugar. What? Really? My husband, who is fast asleep at this point, has snacked his way through every one of them! It seems that whenever he was by the buffet, he grabbed one or two. Or three. Maybe more. This wasn’t a single recipe either! I also made these for a Venetian Table at a recent wedding. There were nine kinds of cookies. These went first and fast. Yup. Five stars. No doubt about it.
I subbed brown sugar (slightly less than called for) and a few extra dates. It gave the balls a wonderful caramel flavor. I used part pecans and part walnuts since that’s what I had. They turned out very balanced in sweet and nutty flavors. I didn’t roll in coconut since it’s not my favorite. Easy to make and store. Nice to pop in your mouth for a quick sweety. I made them 1″ balls.
My mom has been making these since I was a little girl, 25+ years ago. She always called them “Yummies”. Now I make them for my kids and I call them “Snowball cookies”. We have a tradition of making these on school snow days. They really are fantastic! People who don’t eat dates and don’t like nuts will still gobble these up and rave. The butter and sugar made a caramel sauce that binds everything else together for maximum yumminess. Try these!